A group of us got together in Florida in June. We first had a shootout with a bunch of cartridges including 1. Lyra Olympos, 2. Koetsu Tiger Eye with diamond cantilever, 3. Zyx Universe, 4. Dynavector XV1s, Soundsmith "The Voice," and a reworked Denon 103R. They finished in roughly that order except that, at a fraction of the cost, the Voice outperformed all but the top two. These were all compared on a top of the line Teres turntable with direct drive snd a Schroder Reference SQ arm.
The Soundsmith Strain Gauge system was auditioned on the same turntable, but mounted on a different SQ arm. Because the Strain Gauge eliminates the RIAA compensation as well as the need for step-up transformers it was run through it's own preamp which is included in the cost of the system. We directly compared the top performing Olympos with the Strain Gauge and the latter was as detailed but much more open sounding. We were all drawn into the music when listening with the Strain Gauge. This was a prototype system which we also enjoyed in two high resolution horn systems in Colorado for three weeks in July. There was also a direct comparison with an Olympos: same arm (Schroder Reference and Galibier turntable) and with a Miyabi/47 Labs (Schroder Reference/TW Acustic Raven AC) in my system. The results were the same as in Florida except the gap between the MC cartridges and Strain Gauge system was much wider. The Strain Gauge blew us away.
Peter Lederman had his Strain Gauge in 3 rooms at the Rocky Mountain AudioFest in October. The systems were not as high rez as the horn systems in Fort Collins but the Strain Gauge sounded very good in the Soundsmith room. After the show Peter brought my unit, the first production unit, up to Fort Collins and a bunch of us listened for the next few days. Peter made a few changes in the first unit on site. The cartridge body on my production unit is made of aluminum rather than the plastic of the prototype. The elastomer was changed prior to the show after Peter had a conversation with Dr. Win and the change produced better high end extension than the prototype model.
I have been listening to music on a daily basis for almost 6 weeks and have been mesmerized by the spaciousness of the soundstageandair around the instruments. Also, the detail and speed of a note and its decay are astounding. Music has never sounded this real in my system before. The cartridge has broken in nicely and I raised the VTA slightly a few days ago. No moving coil cartridge I have heard compares to the Strain Gauge. This has opened up a whole new level of enjoyment in listening to music.
Hope this helps.
Steve
